STORMERS DRAW CLOSER TO SECOND HALF TITLE

De La Cruz Deals Gem in 8-0 Win

Oscar De La Cruz, the MVP of the 2022 Championship Series, delivered another huge win for the Lancaster Stormers on Thursday night.

The right-hander limited the Long Island Ducks to two hits over seven innings, pitching Lancaster to an 8-0 win in the finale of a seven-game, home-and-home series.

With York also losing, the Stormers lead the division by four over Long Island and 4 ½ over York.  The magic numbers stand at six and five, respectively.  Nine games remain on the schedule for each club.

De La Cruz (4-3) yielded only a pair of doubles to Long Island center fielder Leobaldo Cabrera.  He walked two and struck out five.  The walks both came with two outs in the second inning.  No runner got to third base for the Ducks over the contest.

Scott Engler and Phil Diehl finished the shutout with a scoreless inning apiece.

Mitchell Senger (0-1) retired the first nine Stormers hitters in his Atlantic League debut, but the Stormers broke through in the fourth.  Damon Dues rode the first pitch of the inning into left field for a single.  Dues scored when Gaige Howard ripped a triple to the right field foul pole.  After Senger struck out Isan Diaz, Mason Martin reached the right field deck with a homer to build the lead to 3-0.  A fourth run scored on Joe Stewart’s double to left and a single up the middle by Joseph Carpenter.

Senger settled down and faced only three batters in each of the next two innings, but the lefty departed after a one-out bunt single by Kyle Kasser in the seventh.  Lefty bullpen ace Jake Fishman hit Trace Loehr with his second pitch and left with an injury.  Justin Alintoff was rushed into the game and retired Dues on a lunging catch by Cabrera for the second out.  Howard followed with a three-run homer to right center, largely icing the game. 

Martin rocked a leadoff homer in the eighth for the final run.

The Stormers open a three-game weekend series with the York Revolution at WellSpan Park on Friday at 6:30.  Left-hander Max Green (11-5) will make the start for Lancaster against right-hander Michael Horrell (5-7).  Fans may tune into the game on FloBaseball, starting at 6:25.

NOTES:  Martin has 13 homers in 13 games, hitting 11 in the recent 10 games against the Ducks…The two hits were the fewest by the opposition this season…Dues and Martin had two hits apiece and remain in the top five in the league in batting average with averages of .336 and .332, respectively…Long Island finishes the season with three games at Charleston and six at High Point…The Ducks won the 30-game season series, 16-14, but the Stormers outscored them, 221-159.